Alibaba made a smart car, and soon we'll get to see it

Alibaba and SAIC Motor teamed up last year via a $160 million investment into smart, internet-connected cars, Tech in Asia reports

Ever wondered what a car made by Jack Ma would be like? I’ve got some good news for you: you won’t have to wait much longer to find out.

It’s been about a year since Alibaba and SAIC Motor (one of China’s biggest car makers) teamed up via a $160 million investment into smart, internet-connected cars. In April, we’ll get to see the first product of that collaboration at the Beijing Auto Show.

The teaser image above is just a sneak-peak, but it does reveal that the connected car will be marketed via SAIC Motors subsidiary brand Roewe (which formed from the buyout of British marque MG Rover). It will be called the Roewe City SUV. It’s not clear how much influence Alibaba had over the design, but it will be using elements from Alibaba’s YunOS software, which appears in phones and on smart TVs, the company confirmed.

Beyond that, we really don’t know much about the car yet. It does appear to be planned as a commercial model rather than just a concept, but it’s not clear when the car will become commercially available or what internet-enabled features it might have. Answers to those questions should come in April, when we finally get to see more of the car than just that mysterious teaser image.

Alibaba isn’t the only Chinese internet company to be involved in a project like this. Virtually all of China’s major web companies are involved in car-related projects, but Alibaba looks like it will be the first of the BAT companies to debut a commercial model. 

This is an excerpt from Tech in Asia. You can read the full article here.